Memories, Part 1
by nightingaleofshadow
Summary: After the defeat of the Dread Masters, Garen Sederis begins his attemts to regain his lost memories with his companion Ce'na, and his apprentice, Jaesa


A young woman was strapped to a table in front of him, her long red hair, caked in blood, flowing down the sides of her head, fear and horror glowing in her large green eyes. Something about her seems familiar, and a similar horror is growing in the Echani's gut as he looked at the weapon in his hand. It glowed a deep, bright red, illuminating the shadowed room.

"Do it. By severing your past, you open a path for the future" A voice in his head pulsed, dark and infinite.

The Echani felt the impulse of the words resounding in his head, forcing him to move his arm back, preparing to stab the lightsaber deep into the restrained woman. He hears the tapping of the Sith overseer behind him as he records notes, occasionally glancing up to see the young man's progress. He locked eyes with the woman on the table, and there was sadness, hopelessness and fear in her eyes.

"DO IT NOW, SERVANT!" The voice in his head screamed

Garen Sederis woke with a start, sweat pouring down his face and bare chest as he sat up. It took every bit of his considerable self control, but he managed to keep himself from screaming. Closing his eyes and panting, he put his head in his hands. Ever since the Dread Master had been defeated on Oricon, he had been having the same dream, over and over again, yet every time it still hit him like a Gammorean's fist.

Pushing the covers aside, he noticed that he had been the only one in the bed. Ce'na must have gotten up before he had, something Garen was immensely thankful for. While he appreciated her concern, he was glad that she hadn't been awoken by his reaction to his nightmare. Walking to the washroom connected to the bedroom, Garen turned on the water, and splashed it onto his face before looking in the mirror.

A pale, almond shaped face stared back, framed by long, shaggy white hair, and accentuated by bright white eyes, the trademark features of his race, the Echani. Also adorning his face were a few scars, the most prominent of which ran from his scalp to the bottom of his jaw, effectively cutting his head in two, a grim souvenir of his fight with his former master, Darth Baras.

As he went into the shower, he couldn't help but think as water ran down his lean frame. They were the same thoughts he always had after that particular dream, but that didn't stop them from coming regardless. The nightmares also had the added effect of leaving him with a throbbing headache, no matter where his thoughts wandered.

Turning off the shower, Garen pushed the thoughts away, and instead gathered himself, focusing the Force into a shroud covering his body. He then gave a mental thrust, and felt the water being pushed off of his body, negating the need for a towel. He had a feeling that his apprentice would scold him if she knew about this off-handed, careless use of the force. Smiling at the thought of her scowling, he pulled on the black pants he wore whenever he wasn't expecting combat. Given that he was always prepared for a fight, he only wore them when he was in his recently acquired apartment on Coruscant, or on his ship.

Hooking his twin lightsabers onto his belt, Garen walked out of his cabin into the spacious main room of his ship, the Ashen Lament, a heavily modified Sith Fury Class Interceptor, nodding to his apprentice as he passed her. Jaesa was training, her double-bladed lightsaber whirling and spinning around in a deadly blur of yellow energy. Faster and faster she spun the weapon, until the hilt seemed to be a smear of metal against her dark robes.

A double bladed lightsaber required a bit more focus than a normal weapon, and it was difficult to use, unless you are used to the strange style's required. Physical strength was not a prerequisite for the twin bladed weapon, so to make up for it, the user had to keep the blade spinning, deflecting hostile blows by glancing it off the side, rather than a head on collision.

Garen noted, with a touch of pride, that Jaesa was having less and less trouble with her weapon. No matter how skilled you are with a single weapon, it takes years to truly master it. Jaesa had finally cleared the hurdle she had found, and could do nothing but improve now. Having come into his service only a few months back, and considering his amnesia, Garen had relatively little to teach her regarding her chosen weapon. So they occasionally alternated weapons, where instead of his twin, purple bladed lightsabers, Garen would use Jaesa's saberstaff, and she would use his dual weapons.

Garen continued on to the cockpit which was occupied by his protocol droid, 2V-R8, and his twi'lek partner, and companion, Ce'na Secura. She still refused to allow Jaesa or 2-vee to call her by her true name, instead preferring her chosen name, Vette. Garen and her sister, Ti'va, were the only people who she tolerated use of her true name from. Given that her lekku were still glistening, he hazarded a guess that she had gotten out of the shower just before he had gotten up.

As he entered, 2-vee rose from the chair and stood aside to allow Garen to sit, bowing as he did so. Noticing the protocol droid's movements, the young twi'lek turned her blue head, and fixed him with her brilliant green eyes, her usual cheerful grin fading as he met her gaze.

"Another nightmare?" Her voice was the most pleasant thing he had ever heard, and relished any chance to hear it, but her tone bespoke worry, and her eyes reflected this as well.

"Yeah, but it was nothing to worry about."

"From th way you were rolling around, I have to disagree. Still no idea on what they mean?"

"Not a clue. I've been thinking, Ce'na. You remember that Jedi we helped, back on Belsavis? When we were trying to find Darth Ekkage?"  
>Nodding, she turned her head back to the display, she nodded, her long lekku bouncing with the movement.<p>

"Master Somminick Timmns. I was thinking about contacting him, seeing if he could help me. Maybe these nightmares have something to do with my past. If so, who would possibly be better to help me with that than a Jedi?"

"I don't know, Garen. You know how i feel about people who enforce the law." She said with a sly grin. Given her past as a thief, he could only smile at the joke.

Garen's past had always been a complete mystery. He had no recollection of anything before waking up on a shuttle inbound to Korriban with nothing but a set of light armor and a bad attitude towards authority figures. Having been kept busy by Darth Baras, the Emperor's Hand, and Darth Marr, he hadn't had much time to reflect on this anomaly until recently, after the defeat of the Dread Masters. Given that Darth Baras was imprisoned, none of the Emperor's Hand had contacted him in months, and the fact that the entirety of the Dark Council, with the exceptions of Darth Vowrawn and Lord Nox, despised him, he had been lacking in things to do.

"Well, my other option is questioning Baras."

"Baras? Why would he know anything?"  
>Garen leaned back in his captain's chair, running a hand through his shaggy white hair.<p>

"After our fight, something he said flipped something in my head. He told me that as long as he lives, I will never be free of him. After he finished, some kind of memory flashed in my head of some other… thing saying those exact same words to me. A living shadow. Plus the way he said it made me suspicious of him."

The young twi'lek looked at her lover, before turning her head back to her display, and frowning.

"So in other words, if Timmns can't give you anything, you are going to interrogate Baras?"

Giving her a small smile, he programmed the coordinates for Coruscant into the ships NavComp, before yelling to his apprentice.

Jaesa poked her head around the corner leading into the cockpit, her long dark hair falling in cascades around her shoulders.

"Jaesa, please set up a meeting with Master Timmns. I have some questions for him."


End file.
